Have you looked at your credit lately?

As part of my law practice, I help people who have errors on their credit reports. I see a variety of errors on the credit reports of consumers. These are people who regularly pay their bills, yet are plagued by errors on their credit reports that are provided by the Big 3, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, as well as a number of smaller providers of consumer information, and tri merge providers, who provide compilations of credit reports based on the information provided by the Big 3.

Most of the people who come to me with errors are in a panic because they assumed that they had good credit, but inaccurate or obsolete information was discovered when they were prevented from making a large purchase on credit.

Over the coming weeks and months I will provide you with a number of examples of the errors that people approach me with.

The following story happened a few months ago. A woman had been living at an apartment complex under a lease agreement. For whatever reason the woman's employer advised her that her pay check would be delayed, causing her to be late on the rent. The woman then spoke with someone in the leasing office who told her not to worry and pay when she could. That person, however, did not notify the employee responsible for the evictions. A suit for eviction was filed in the Justice of the Peace Court, and was granted as the woman did not appear in court because she assumed the issue had been resolved. Because she was consistently paying her rent, the apartment never executed the eviction and she continued to live in that apartment for some time.

Some time later, after moving out and parting with the complex on good terms, the woman checks her credit to find that there is a judgment for an eviction in the public records section of her report. While this is not an Fair Credit Report Act issue as the report is technically accurate, there were potentially some ways to deal with the issue.

Unfortunately she never followed up with me so I don't know how this story ends. It is one more example of why you need to check your credit periodically. Get a copy free at www.annualcreditreport.com. Call me for a free consultation